News Article: Dundon on the Arena

[MinJaBen]

"Our biggest focus right now is to put ourselves in a position to succeed in Raleigh."

If he had never considered moving, the bolded part would never have needed to be said. A statement like this means there are/were plans to succeed in other places besides Raleigh.

 

[DaveG]

I mean with our lease it shouldn't be too f***ing hard to make things work here. Almost the entire league that doesn't own their stadium would trade lease terms with us in a f***ing second.

The more Tom opens his mouth the more I feel like we're being Rachel Phelpsed.

 

[A Star is Burns]

Or, once again, the guy just likes to hear himself talk.

 

[CandyCanes]

I mean with our lease it shouldn't be too ****ing hard to make things work here. Almost the entire league that doesn't own their stadium would trade lease terms with us in a ****ing second.

The more Tom opens his mouth the more I feel like we're being Rachel Phelpsed.

He says that because the arena lease expires in 5 years. Why would he want to commit to an aging stadium for another 10-20 years if there’s no official commitment to improving the building to be a world class venue? PNC arena is starting to show its age if you take a look around other stadiums across the country. I think Dundon has every intention to keep this team in Carolina, but he really values having a world class facility. If Dundon can’t get a downtown stadium here or get PNC arena updated (the numbers are supposedly around $150-200M in renovations) then Dundon will pull the team out of Carolina unfortunately. And honestly I can’t blame him if one these projects can’t be committed to. I’ll hate him for that, but it just makes sense.

That said I don’t think a downtown stadium will ever happen. It’s going to require public funding and there’s just not enough people around here who’d care enough to pay more taxes for that. But I think there’s creative ways the Centennial Authority & Gale Force Holdings can come up with a way to fund the renovations needed to make PNC a world class facility again.

 

[CandyCanes]

 

[JacquesCousteau]

I'm looking forward to Sara Civian's upcoming article that will add additional color to the arena conversation. The "in Raleigh" comment really hit me the wrong way. However, the I get the concept of "negotiation via media." He may be trying to motivate the powers that be with the message that it's time to get on board with renovations/improvements, or get left behind.

 

[SvechneJerk]

I was overjoyed when this happened. “Finally!”, I thought, we were going to see this team spend money on impact players & turn things around.

He may WOW us between now & the beginning of next season, but my skepticism grows by the day.

 

[HisIceness]

"The best is yet to come".

Ball is in your court, make it happen.